Résumés
This study presents the results of a technical and art historical study of an important Gandharan head from the Victoria and Albert Museum. For several years, the head has played an important role in the history of Gandharan art, because of its high aesthetic qualities. However, the head has received limited scholarly attention since its first display in the 1930s. This study reviewed the head’s physical, curatorial and conservation history and determined its construction using non-invasive and non-contact investigative techniques (technical imaging, FTIR, XRF and FORS). The support consists of several layers of a lime- and gypsum-based plaster (gauging plaster) and only salient elements of the face (e.g. lips, eyes and hairline) and the hair were painted, with a high-quality red ochre and with an unidentified black pigment, respectively. A careful examination of the construction of the head allowed to determine that it probably belonged to an iconic representation of the Buddha, as opposed to a narrative scene.
Cette étude présente les résultats d’une recherche technique et historique sur une importante tête du Gandhara conservée au Victoria and Albert Museum, à Londres. Cette œuvre occupe depuis des années une place éminente dans l’histoire de l’art gandharien en raison de sa grande qualité esthétique. Pourtant, elle n’a guère été étudiée scientifiquement depuis son exposition au musée dans les années 1930. Aux recherches sur les données matérielles, muséales et de conservation-restauration s’est ajoutée une analyse structurelle utilisant des techniques non-invasives hors contact : imagerie, spectroscopie IRTF (Spectrométrie infrarouge par transformée de Fourier), XRF (analyse par fluorescence X), FORS (Spectrométrie par réflexion à l’aide de fibre optique). Le support se compose de plusieurs couches de mortier chaux-plâtre (plâtre de gâchage). Les pigments, appliqués uniquement sur les principaux traits du visage (tels que les lèvres, les yeux) et sur les cheveux, sont respectivement une ocre rouge de grande qualité et un noir non identifié. Un examen attentif de la construction de la tête a permis de déterminer qu’elle appartenait probablement à une représentation iconique du Bouddha, par opposition aux scènes narratives.
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Extrait du texte
Ce document sera publié en ligne en texte intégral en juillet 2021.
Plan
Introduction
Stucco: lime, gypsum or clay?
Methodology
A stucco head of the Buddha at the V&A
Physical history
Curatorial and conservation history
Results and discussion
Core and coarse stucco layers
Finishing layer and skin tones
Polychromy
The orientation of the head
Conclusions
Aperçu du texte
Introduction
The appearance of ancient stone sculpture in the Mediterranean, Central Asia and the India Subcontinent is often associated with pristine, unpainted surfaces, appreciated for their unblemished appearance. This is certainly the case for ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, which has been long praised for its whiteness. However, it is a well-known fact that ancient sculpture was generally painted and the Buddhist sculptures from the Gandharan region are not an exception. While most schist sculpture now appears “elegantly” uniform and grey, stucco sculpture, by nature more porous than schist, often retains traces of their original painted decoration. While the making of ancient Greek and Roman sculptural polychromy has been the subject of intense scholarly studies and fierce debates since at least the late 18th century, Gandharan sculptural polychromy has received limited attention. Only a handful of technical investigations exist on metal and schist sculpture, and on clay an...
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Référence papier
Giovanni Verri, Christian Luczanits, Victor Borges, Nick Barnard et John Clarke, « Investigations of a Gandharan stucco head of the Buddha at the Victoria and Albert Museum (IM.3-1931) », Technè, 48 | 2019, 136-149.
Référence électronique
Giovanni Verri, Christian Luczanits, Victor Borges, Nick Barnard et John Clarke, « Investigations of a Gandharan stucco head of the Buddha at the Victoria and Albert Museum (IM.3-1931) », Technè [En ligne], 48 | 2019, mis en ligne le 01 juillet 2021, consulté le 25 février 2021. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/techne/2792 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/techne.2792
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Auteurs
Conservation Scientist, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA (gverri[at]artic.edu).
Articles du même auteur
Senior Lecturer, Department of History of Art and Archaeology, School of Arts, SOAS, London, UK (cl46[at]soas.ac.uk).
Senior Sculpture Conservator, Sculpture Conservation, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (v.borges[at]vam.ac.uk).
Curator, Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (n.barnard[at]vam.ac.uk).
Curator, Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (j.clarke[at]vam.ac.uk).
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